Who we are
BimBi Italiani promotes Italian language, culture, and heritage for children and families living abroad. BimBi Italiani does this by facilitating for Italian and mixed Italian families learning activities and social events that stimulate and promote cultural exchange and growth.
Bimbi Italiani helps ensure children living overseas know about their heritage and cultivate it at home. Through making and strengthening Italian friends, Bimbi Italiani helps kids experience a childhood that is a little bit Italian regardless of where they live.
WHO ARE THE “BimBi Italiani”
The “Bimbi Italiani” are the identity and center of this project. The “Bimbi Italiani” are children who, though they don’t live in Italy, are Italians!
The Bimbi Italiani are children of two Italian parents that live abroad.
They are children of one Italian parent and one parent from another country: those famous “mixed children” who are half Italian, half something else but, at the end of the day, are and remain Italian!
The “Bimbi Italiani” are second- or third-generation Italian children who want to discover their roots, culture, and traditions.
The “BimBi Italiani” are also non-Italian children whose parents believe in our mission and want to be part of our community.
Mario - The BimBo Italiano
Bimbi Italiani was born out of the need to:
Support children living abroad feel Italian in language, culture, and tradition.
Develop a sense of Italian community to help children make new friends and experience an Italian childhood
WHAT WE DO
BimBi Italiani is an evolving global community. Bimbi Italiani’s projects strive to:
Promote Italian culture, language, and traditions.
Develop phonetic and linguistic skills through innovative, interactive, experimental, often artistic, workshops and activities.
Develop a sense of community among Italian children and families abroad.
Stimulate inter-cultural and social exchange among Italians abroad.
Promote access to Italian educational materials abroad.
Visit our Project page to learn more about what we do!
OUR STORY
BimBi Italiani was born in 2019 during a conversation between Elena Del Fabbro and Ilaria Lanzoni. Elena and Ilaria were two Bangkok-based moms with small children married to foreigners. They wondered what they could do to help ensure their kids knew and embraced their Italian culture and heritage.
Chatting over coffee, Elena and Ilaria started thinking about BimBi Italiani. They imagined Mario, now Bimbi Italiani’s mascot, as the imaginary Italian child abroad. Mario is a happy, curious child. He moves around the world with mom and dad but understands and maintains his Italian roots and heritage.
Although Ilaria left Bangkok, Elena continued to develop the BimBi Italiani concept. With support from her American husband, Andy, Elena launched BimBi Italiani in 2019 as a Facebook page and community group named BimBi Italiani, Bangkok.
That September an Italian-Finnish family offered to host the first BimBi Italiani event in their home and we were off and running.
In 2020, Michela Currone joined BimBi Italiani. Michela collaborated in the creation of various early projects. These included the cultural Italian labs CREO and Nonnolandia.
BimBi Italiani also began to collaborate with Italian artists and other professionals abroad such as Tommaso Maggio, Thomas De Cian, Raffaela Marongiu, Chiara Gasparotti, Giuseppe Sepe not to mention our wonderful grandparents (i nonni) Dario, Daniela, Itria, and Michele, to mention a few.
BimBi Italiani also began to collaborate with various organizations such as the First Words project, the Societa' Dante Alighieri in Bangkok, Connecting Kidz in Italy, Mind your Language in Thailand and Vita da Expat in Australia.
Since September 2020, BimBi Italiani has been a member of the Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce (TICC). On June 21, 2022, BimBi Italiani registered as an Italian Association (non-profit) with founder members Elena Del Fabbro, Laura Perin, and Elisetta Grigoletto.
BimBi Italiani, Primo Inconto
1 Settembre 2019, Bangkok, Thailandia